If I were an Imagineer...

[dlanaheimfreak]

Disney just can't get it right. Paris is just too big and extravagant, and Hong Kong just doesn't have enough. I think that Hong Kong will eventually be able to grow and expand into a great Disney park, but it will take a good amount of time. I still can't get over that there is not a Frontierland. If they plan on adding the land later, it will totally go against the beliefs of Walt Disney, himself. Tomorrowland in Anaheim was no where near ready on July 17, 1955, but Walt felt that for the success of the park, everything should open as a whole. I think that with a little more work, HKDL will be great, and if it isn't, there's always the next resort in Shanghai.

Anyway, my original reason for posting this thread was to give you this challenge: It is a few years ago, and Disney and the government have made an agreement to build a brand new resort on reclaimed land from Penny's Bay. You are the Imagineers, and you are planning the new park. What classic Disney attractions/brand new, original, ideas do you have for the new park/resort.

Put together a new park and resort that won't have people complaining about it before it even opens. Remember to keep the costs reasonable. You don't want a park that is so big that it can't support itself. (Euro Disney) The park should be big enough/have enough to do to give a family at least a day of entertainment.

So wannabe Imagineers, if you designed HKDL in the first place, what would have it been like?

[TDLFAN]

That is a huge challenge... and I would love to be able to give you my version of a new DL but I just dont' have the time to post for the next 2 days in a row!!!

However... let me pose you *this* challenge... If you were the Disney CEO who wanted (and got) 6 huge hotels in Paris and saw your baby dying a slow death... How much of a budget would you allocate to the Imagineering team to build a brand new Disneyland in a country where most still are not that familiar with the Disney brand and roster of characters familiar and dear to the rest of the World?

BTW... *love* your avatar.

[jbradway]

It would take too long to go into detail, but here are some general thoughts:

I don't like the DL castle copy. I think every park should have it's own style castle. But since they did copy, they copied one that is too small for the setting. The hills in the background are a nice backdrop, but it really ruins the forced perspective of a shorter castle. A taller castle like Paris or the WDW MK would have been more in scale with the hills.

I think the park is going to continue to grow beyond the railroad berm and that is a good thing. I like the idea of the train having a view of the park from both sides. There is plenty of room for growth and within 10 years nobody is going to think HKDL is a small park.
I like the TL theme of the alien space port. It might be a bit too cartoonish, but given all the problems of the other TLs, it's just fine.
I'm not too sure about reviving the Medieval Faire themed FL. I thought DL went the right direction when it changed over back in '83. I fear this will look old and dated shortly just like the WDW MK looks now.
I haven't seen much of the super-sized Jungle Cruise to know if it was a good replacment for the ROA. That's a pretty big risk for an attraction that looks to take up about 1/4 of the current park.
Overall I think everyone would like to see more, but I understand the huge cost of filling in the bay and building a resort from scratch. They have done pretty well to have 2 resort sized hotels, a resort lake and multiple transit sites (rail and ferry) along with a theme park. That's a huge amount of work done in a very short time. Overall, I think they did a very good job.

[dlanaheimfreak]

I'm changing this post a little bit. It was a lot for me to ask for you to tell all of your theme park ideas. How about just stating some of your ideas for additions to the park now. (New Rides/Lands/Restaurants/Shops) Also I would be interested if anyone has any ideas for a future second gate at the resort.

Here are my ideas:

1) In Adventureland, I would move the railroad tracks out and put in the proposed Pirates/Splash Mtn. Hybrid. (Dark Blue Area "P"; New Train Tracks are the Pink)

2) Across from the new Autopia would be Star Tours with the Pod Racers storyline that has been proposed for Disneyland Anaheim. (Light Blue Area "S")

3) To the right of Star Tours and Autopia would be an entire new land. Hollywoodland would encompass HPB from DCA as well as the studio parks. I have always felt that movies/studios is a better idea for a land than an entire park. (Surrounded by Orange Line) Also this would better connect the resort hotel's theming.
The two attractions that I am sure would be put in my new land are:

A) The Tower of Terror keeping Twilight Zone theming for "Hollywood Tower Hotel". (Red Area "T")
B) Great Movie Ride with possible updated scenes (Light Green Area "G")

4) My last idea is an addition to Main Street. I would put the Haunted Mansion off of Main Street. (Area H-Lime Green) The Exterior of the building would compliment Small Town America at the turn of the century.

[Homer]

I would build Frontierland, with a River of America and Mark Twain Riverboat with canoes. I would also add Big Thunder Mountain and a very southwestern country show. I would also build a large capacity version of Splash Mountain, with 2 stations of loading to decrease the wait time.

Fantasyland, I would get rid of the carnival style buildings and change it to Anaheim's Fantasyland look. I would keep Mad Tea Party, get rid of the crappy meet and greet, add The Great Mouse Detectives dark ride. I would add a larger capacity version of Peter Pan's Flight and build The Resuer's, another dark ride, where you can fly on that seagle through the whole attraction. I would demolish that crappy castle, and build the castle from Snow White, with a mystery tour. I would re-build Pooh Bear to the Tokyo version and I would add Snow White's Scary Adventures. I would keep the carousel and add an Alice In Wonderland type of maze.

Adventureland, I would keep Jungle Cruise, and demolish that Tree House. I would add an Aladdin type of thrill ride with a Jungle Book dark ride. I would also add a Jungle Book type of entertainment show in the Lion King theatre.

Tomorrowland, I would keep Space Mountain, the Orbitron and Buzz Lightyear. I would only add a faster type of Autopia then the current one in Disneyland Anaheim (maybe electric cars).

I would also build a Villian's Valley land. It would contain a large cave ride, where Penny, (From the Rescuers 2) is searching for the diamond for Medusa, with many water moments. I would also build very dark scenery, with dark trees etc. I would also build the Haunted Mansion in this area. I would also add a Cinderella type dark ride about the evil mom and sisters.

With Main Street I would change the Emporium to the Anaheim color scheme. With the train station, I would tear it down and build the Magic Kingdom style train station entrance. I would get rid of all that grey brick surrounding the train station as well. I would maybe add a type of ride where you can travel along the road of main street on a track, on a 1900's type of old fashioned car.

And yes, I do have a lot of time on my hands. I am Homer Simpson.

[MattO]

If I were an Imagineer I'd probably be on unemployment.

[daveyjones]

If I were an imagineer, I'd probably get fired for either drinking/smoking on the job or sexual harasment.

[sirLancelot]

Since Adventureland is ginormous, put two mountains in there...the Pirates/Splash hybrid and the rumor from way back when...Fire Mountain, originally proposed for the Magic Kingdom in the 90s. But in this Fire Mountain, it will be kind of like the Dragon's Tower ride that was supposed to go into Animal Kingdom, and also some of the original FM elements. It would look like a volcano.

I think that having two original mountains in Hong Kong would be really good.

[TDLFAN]

Since HKDL's Adventureland has a decidedly African feel to it, much like all of DAK feels, having a "Fire Mountain" where dragons and mythology would be the theme, feels inappropriate to this area. Not to say that I would love to see this happening at a Disney park but, HKDL's Adventureland would not be the right spot for it.

[sirLancelot]

^Make Fire Mountain about a wild African spirit god?